Can You Optimize Your Website for Voice Search?

© 2017 March Oyinki

By Caroline Elliott
VP of karma digital

Let’s start with my Mom, the ultimate experimental subject for search behavior. Yes, you read correctly, my Mom.

Example A:

Mom: “I can’t find your website.”

Me: “Are you typing in the URL?”

Mom: “Yes, and when I type the URL into Google and hit search, it is not showing up.”

Me: Sighs internally “No, Mom, just type the URL into the URL bar, not into Google.”

In this case she was trying to find a brand-new website I created that wasn’t in search results yet, understandably she couldn’t figure out what I meant by URL bar, and gave up, revisiting when she could easily Google the URL or I could show her in person.

Or the time that she was trying to Google Google, Example B:

Mom: “So, I’m typing Google.com into the search bar, now what?”

Me: “Are you on Google already?”

Mom: “Yes, I think so.”

Me: “You’re already on Google, Mom, you don’t need to type Google into the search bar, just type what you’re looking for.”

And follows many other entertaining stories of my Mom struggling to use Google, ironic as it is that her daughter works in SEO (took me only three years for her to recite with pride that SEO stands for search engine optimization). And then one day, we were at lunch and she was talking into her phone and I realized that my Mom had discovered Siri, voice texting and voice search.

She would say things like “Text Jeff”, “new line”, and a number of other shortcuts that she easily grasped. She would say, “Google hours for Women’s exchange St. Louis”, evolving to “Where is the nearest dog groomer close to me?”, and finally to talking into her phone like she was having a conversation with a person “How late is Schnucks open?”

She had discovered how to put together complex queries by simply talking into her phone like a real person, and she is not alone.

The Growth of Voice Search

Google says 20% of mobile queries are voice searches, and those numbers are on the rise. With the top minds in SEO predicting only growth in this category of search, mobile-first is becoming more important. Not only is Google is using a mobile-first index, but with personalized mobile search results, this user behavior is ultimately adding up to a much better user experience, hence the popularity.

If we look back at the examples with my Mom, you’ll notice it is faster and easier for her to speak into her phone than type. In fact, according to Katherine Watier, “Humans can speak 150 words per minute vs type 40 words per minute.”

And on top of that people phrase questions and sentences differently. Mainly with a local search angle, “Mobile voice-related searches are 3X more likely to be local-based than text” according to Search Engine Watch.

So, what does this mean for your website, business or product?

How to Optimize your Website for Voice Search

Target longer keywords in existing content: long-tail keywords are going to be more relevant to users searching via voice search although a lower number of people a month will be searching. This is an opportunity to incorporate longer phrases and questions into your existing content to help show up for these voice searches.

Use long-tail keywords for new content creation: by looking for longer phrases with search volume, you might come across unanswered questions that warrant a new piece of content. By identifying these content gaps, you can create content you know users are searching for and fill those specific needs. And most likely show up where your competition isn’t, yet!

Maintain the basics: Don’t forget that although voice search is on the rise, the need for traditional keyword phrases and SEO fundamentals is not going away. Pay close attention to your technical SEO, top ranking terms and overall strategy. As Rand Fishkin from Moz predicts “Voice search won't actually cannibalize desktop or typed mobile searches, but will instead just add on top of it.”

What’s Next?

Google has hinted about creating a report for voice searches in Google Search Console.

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